Process of treating gum.



No. 821,934.. PATENTED MAY 29, 1906.

' A. P. EVES.

PROCESS OF TREATING GUM.

APPLICATION FILED APR.14. 1905.

' which is a gum comparatively low degree" impurities, which may be remove UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARCHIEP nv-Es,

or AKRON, (may 'PROCESS OF. TREATING GUM.

' Specification of Letters Batent. Application filed April14,1905.;Se1ialiTo-255,590.

" Patented m ea-ieoe.

To all-whom it may concern! v Be it known that I, Anonrn P. Evns, a citi zen of the United States, residing at Akron,

in the county of Summit and State of Ohio,

have invented new and useful Im rovementsgum, such as Para, will be increased in? value and inferior m, such as Pontianiac,

and tenacity and is commonly of resiliengl er to-be mixed with high-grade used as a gums, may be so changed in its elements asto e relatively of much more value. Gums used in-manufacturing rubber, as it is well known, are the product of coa ation ofmilky juices (emulsions) of various trees, creepers, and shrubs, and therefore rarely, if ever, homo eneous and chemically'pure.

Experiments emonstrate that they'cont ain' water, sand, vegetable fibers, wood an other d by wash drying in vacuo, resultin in approxi mg and mately technically pure gum. he washing of the gum, however, also removes certain 0811'? bohydrate, which in many cases are essential to the. life of rubber. Experience has also shown that inferior gums contain resin in large quantities, and even high-grade gums,

properly, c oagulatedt v such as Para, contain fromtwo to five per cent, and as these resins are foreign to the composition of strictly first-class rubber their removal becomes a step toward improvement in the uality of rubber. It has-also been found t at milks in low-grade gums are im- 1 have found by experience that a treatment of-crude gums with the alcohols and their derivatives, of which the best for the purpose is acetone, "(0H,)C0g, will remove the resins by uniting with them, and it has; been found that after this treatment the milks and carbohydrates change into good gum, so 'that the 'resultis a ood gum of much hi her degree commercia y and chemically tan previous to this treatment. In carrying out this process I make useof certain mechanical v devices for the handling of the and the appl 'ng thereto of the desire quid, and the d dvice which Ihave found to be the best for this purpose is illustratedin the accompanying drawing, which represents a vertical central section of the entire device, it bein understood that changes, variations, and

modifications can be resorted to which might perhaps better aid in the carrying out of this pnocess without in any manner departing from this invention.

In 'the drawings -1 represents a large and i relatively shallow t'a'nk, 1n the base portion of which is-a pipe-coil 2,:into which 1s introduced some heatingmedium, such as steam. The tank I is provided with' a drain-pipe 3 at one of its lower corners for a purpose to be described. Mounted upon the tank 1 is a secondary tank. 4, which may be of sheet metal, the same as tank 1 The upper gor tion ofthistank 4 is closed by. a hea 5,

united thereto preferably by bolts 6.. .In the upper portion of this secondary tank 4 is a pipe-coil 7 through which is constantly passed a coolingfluid. The head 5 on the secondary tank 4 is provided centrall with a stufiing-box 8, throu h which e'xten s verticallya rotatable sha 9, having on its u per end a pulley 10, over whichis-passed a ielt from a convenient-source of power for the purpose of rotating the shaft 9. The'shaft-S).

passes downwardlyapproximately centrally of thesecondary tank 4- and is supported in its medial portions by a spider 11. This spider. 11 is held between two collars 12, which are tight on the shaft 9, so that any vertical movement of the shaft'9 will raise the spider 11;. The outer ends of the legs of the spider 11 are grooved so as to straddle and 006 erate with vertically-placed ridges 13, on t e inner faceof the secondary tank 4. Below the.

spider 11 is fastened a deflecting-ring 14,

whose use and ose will' be described later.' In thewa o the secondarytank 4,- immediately above the point where it rests upon the tank 1, is an opening 15, closed by a cover 16, held by bolts 17, which. engage cross-bars 18 extending across the openings 15. From '.this opening 15 there extends across the. interior of the seconda tank 4 a track consisting of a pair of'ra' s, one of which, 19, is shown in the drawing. The ends of this. track may be supported on brackets 20 and the opposite ends by a cross-bar21.

This .track is. used for the sustainingof a ket tle' or crucible 22, with wheels 26, and hav- IIO 4 ing a perforated shell into which the rubber to be treated is placed, and the opening 15 is used to withdraw the kettle or crucible from within the secondary tank 4 whenever it' is desired. The shaft 9 extends into the kettle 22 and bears on its lower end a pair of agitator-blades 23 and 24, the blades 24 being so placed as to act as scrapers to raise the sticky mass of gum from the bottom surface of the kettle 22 and to constantly tend to keep that portion of the mass from the bottom and Work it upward to the end that it ma be thoroughly combined with the liquid wit which it is to be treated.

In practice I prefer to suspend below the kettle a wire-fabric bag or screen 25, for a purpose to be later described. In using the apparatus just described the shaft 9 is raised vertically, which is permitted by the fact that the spider 11 is vertically movable in unison therewith, until the agitator-blades.

23 and 24 are above the opening 15, and the ca 16 being removed the kettle substantia 1y filled with the gum to be treated by this rocess is runin on the rails 19 until 1t stan s substantially in the positon shown in the drawing; The shaft 9 bearing the agitator-blades is then lowered and the cover 16 placed over the -o 'ening 15 and secured tightly in position, t e tank 1 is partly filled with one of the alcohols or its derivatives,

and steam or some other equally efficient heat-producing medium is passed throu h the pipe-coil 2, and the temperature oftIie liquid is raised to the boiling-point. At this point the liquid commences to volatilize and passes up around the kettle 22 and between the kettle 22 and the deflecting-ring 14, past the spider 1 1, until it encounters the pipe-coil 7. This pipe-coil 7 is kept'constantly cold by a current of cooling fluid which condenses the volatilized liquid and which in turn drips in a liquid form 0 emically pure into the mass 'of gum in the kettle I 22. This dripping of the liquid into the kettle 22 is assisted and guide inits descent by the deflecting-ring 14. In the meantime theagitator-blades and the shaft 9 are kept in constant motion, which thoroughly incorporates the li uid with the gum in the kettle 22, during w 'ch time the chemical action takes place and the liquid mingles and unites with the resins of the gum,

forming therewith a solution, and the gum into the tank 1.

itself assumes a stiff tenacious conslstency. As rapidl as the liquid unites with the resin it drips t ough the perforations in the base of the kettle 22 and through the screen 25 After this has been kept u sufficiently longto remove the resins from t e gum the rotation of the shaft 9 is stopped and the shaft 9 raised, the cover 16 removed, and the kettle of pu ed gum' removed through the opening 15. The liquid in the tank, which by this tlme contains more or less coagulated and the 'the value thereo which 7 condenser, and at the same rising vapor upon the gum,

resin, is withdrawn throu h the drain-pipe 3 to be later subjected to istillation to separate the resin therefrom. The screen of wire fabric 25 is placed below the kettle 22 to catch any masses of rubber which mi ht fall therefrom. The action of the liqui upon the gum removes the resins and other deleterious substances therefrom, and it is found that after the process the milks are properly uncombined carbohydrates in the gum are converted into good gum, thereby adding an additional value to the gum instead of washing them out with water, as is the common practice, which injures the quality thereof.

It will be obvious, of course, coils-may be constructed in any form de-. sired, as well as the kettle and agitatorblades, so long as the accomplish equally efficient results, and t e other parts of the device may be changed to suit the particular use to which they may be ut.

This process just descri ed produces from an inferior grade of crude gum a gum ofmuch higher degree of commercial value, as well as chemical urit'y, and greatly enhances is particularly a desirable feature at the present time, owing to the extremely hi h price of what are known as the high-gra e gums, such as cost of which is so great as to make its use of very limited extent indeed compared with the use of the inferior ms.

What I claim, and d sire to secure by Letters Patent, i's

1. A process of refining gum used in the manufacture of rubber comprising heating the material by the action of solvent vapors, and then condensing said vapors and a lowthe products of condensation to min mass from deleterious substances.

2. A'process of refining gum used in the manufacture of rubber comprising heating the material b alcoholic va ors, and then condensing sai vapors and al owing the prod ucts of condensation to mingle with the heated material, thereby freeing the mass from deleterious substances.

-3. A process of refining gum used in the manufacture of rubber comprising heating the material by alcoholic vapors while sai material is in the state of agitation, and then condensing saidvapors and allowing the products of condensation to mingle with the heated material, thereby freeing the mass from deleterious substances.

4; A method of purifyi gum used In the manufacture of rubber whic consists in passing solvent vapors upward and through and around the material to be treated and to a time causing t e condensed solvent to descend through the whereby the heat that the pipe.

1e with the heated material, thereby freeing the j Para, the

- temperature as is practicable.

5. A method of rubber which consists in assing a coholic vapors through the material to be treated to a? and aroun condenser, and at the same time causing the condensed solvent to descend through the rising vapor upon the gum, whereby the heat of the vapor 1s utilized and the solvent and gum made to undergo treatment at as high a temperature as is practicable.

6. A process of refining rubber comprising the heating by solvent vapors of the materia to be treated while the material is in the state of agitation, and then condensing said vapors and allowing the products of condensation to mi le with the heated material, therebyfreemg the mass from deleterious substances.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set I my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ARCHIE P. EVES. Witnesses: I

C. E. HUMPHREY, GLENARA Fox. 

